It’s no surprise that Custom Diecast México likes those customs that go much further than the ‘simple’ wheelswap job or even a color change -well, we like those too-; those projects that transform the car in ways that go well beyond what the car looked like on the pegs at the supermarket.

Luis Roa is precisely the kind of customizer that, far from settling with a simple wheelswap, takes each of his customs further and further, more and more defining his style along the way, which has become unmistakable in the mexican custom scene. Roa is an irrepressible fan of the trend that has taken the modified car world by storm in the last few years: overfenders, which we’ve seen in all kinds of cars and, thanks to the push of companies like Liberty Walk or Rocket Bunny, doesn’t seem to be winding down and has even reached this world of small cars. This widebody craze that has turned the car scene upside-down is precisely where Roa takes his inspiration from when he starts cutting, widening and lowering each and every car that has the luck of ending up in his workbench. The Mustang with which we proudly introduce him as a new Honorary Member of the Custom Diecast México community is the perfect example of all of the above.

As the thing was missing some muscle in Roa´s eyes, as soon as he got home he disassembled it, stripped its paint off and started giving it the undeniable “Roa touch”: overfenders. Unfortunately, he lost almost all the pictures that documented the complex and extensive modification process, but he did walk us trough every step of of how the Mustang slowly morphed from a bare casting with plastic pieces and gobs of epoxy putty:

First things first; the most obvious change are the wide overfenders entirely fabricated with epoxy putty, which even have the holes for the rivets. The Mustang’s new look had to be complemented with more modifications so that the visual aggression would reach every corner of the car.

For the front end, Roa fabricated a splitter out of styrene, complete with steel wire-made stanchions. He then took the original wheel axles of the car, cut away both ends and paired them with special electronic cable, forming a set of old-school hood pins that look surprisingly cool on the Mustang’s modern hood.

At the rear end, Roa formed with epoxy a duck-tail spoiler for the trunk lid. The rear diffuser out of a Hot Wheels Honda S2000 found its way onto the Mustang, and it’s like it was meant for the car. It looks absolutely perfect. The huge exhaust tips were made from aluminum tubing.

Roa discovered by accident while working on another project that Comex chrome spray paint turns into kind of a metallic silver titanium hue when given a coat of clear, so he applied this find over the Mustang’s body. He then painted the central tail panel black, and detailed the rear turn signals and tail-lights with Sharpie markers.

The side mirrors were made out of paper clips and superglue mixed with sodium bicarbonate. Roa also drilled a hole on the roof to put an antenna with telemetry sensors painted in orange. The headlights were detailed with nail polish.

Almost as representative of a Roa custom as his overfenders are his custom wheels. In a nutshell, Roa trimmed off the outer “tire” part off four Matchbox off-road wheels and paired them with four Hot Wheels wheels that had their centers trimmed out, leaving only the tire and the wheel lip. The result are some very very deep dish wheels that are the perfect complement for the Mustang’s new wheel arches. And thanks to an extreme drop, which required the interior piece to be trimmed down with the Dremel, the stance of the car is extremely low, just as it should be.

Roa painted in orange some interior details, as well as the roll cage he fabricated with paper clips, so that all of it would pop against the color of the interior and get noticed trough the tinted glass of the car.

To make the car look even lower, a set of styrene sideskirts joined the Mustang’s base, which was painted black and then detailed with a Sharpie marker. The car was closed with screws. Once it was done, Roa took it out for a spin to the 8th Hot Wheels Mexico Convention, where he made sure that guest designer Jeremy Cox autographed it.

We weren’t kidding about the car’s ride height, it sits a hair above ground level. Achieving such a low stance, even in the four corners of the car, and totally functional, isn’t easy at all, especially considering the new overfenders in this custom. But we assure you that this thing rolls perfectly.

Roa’s work has been very influential in the mexican custom scene. His “epoxied” cars, as he calls them, have inspired dozens of people to try it in their own creations. The same thing happened with the custom wheels, Luis was one of the first customizers in México to make them, and his tutorials showed a lot of people how they could do their own. All of this, atop the excellent work he puts out, which is very inspired in true car culture which is always a plus, earned Luis Roa a well-deserved place in Custom Diecast México’s community.